Dual Interface Rail Mount

ABSTRACT

A firearm accessory mount interface to be mounted on a rail interface system has one or more fastener pairs of tightening fasteners and pivot fasteners as well as alignment relief lugs. The alignment relief lugs are shaped and spaced to provide proper alignment on the rail interface by engaging either a rear or front wall of the KeyMod or M-LOK rail interface mounting slot and due impeding movement parallel to the rail. The pivot fastener is sized to enter the selected rail interface in a horizontal orientation and pivot to a vertical orientation relative to the selected rail interface whereby preventing extraction of the accessory mount. The tightening fastener inserted into a fastener hole, situated at a the center point of the pivot fastener, can then be rotated to secure the tightening fastener and the pivot faster together thereby securing the mount interface onto the firearm.

BACKGROUND

Firearm rail systems are typically integrated into the handguard of the firearm. This system provides a means of attachment for various mountable accessories such as scopes, sights, grips, and lights.

Universal mounts like the MIL-STD picatinny rail mounts provide a firm and secure mounting option for users, but at the expense of increased weight. This is detrimental to the user's abilities. The configuration of the picatinny rails requires many rails to span along the handguard. Therefore, a need existed for a system that would not add weight to the firearm but still provides a secure mounting point for accessories.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,752,320 B2 Accuracy International of North America, Inc. proposed a firearm with keyhole-shaped rail mounting points. This invention, in its advanced stage of product development, is now known as the KeyMod attachment system. This rail interface system was developed to provide compatibility for multiple mountable accessory without the need for the aforementioned picatinny rail. This system is now widely used and provides many advantages over the previous mounting system. As with all inventions, drawbacks become apparent as time elapses and hence improvements to the design or apparatus must be made. The drawbacks of the invention include poor securement of polymer parts and the wide spacing needed for the KeyMod attachment nut to clear the mount. The drawbacks are critical because many firearm manufacturers are making polymer parts to attach to the KeyMod interface due to the reduced costs of polymer versus metal, steel, and aluminum. Therefore, the most recent alternative rail interface system was designed as a free licensed platform. This rail interface is known as the M-LOK.

M-LOK is a modular locking accessory mounting system that allows direct attachment of mountable accessories to a negative space mounting point. Unlike the keyhole shaped KeyMod rail interface, the M-LOK features large rounded square slots which is optimized for both metal and polymer mounting accessories. The advantages of the M-LOK are apparent, and as KeyMod did to the picatinny rail, the M-LOK is shaping up to be the next generation in rail interface systems. The obvious issue with this advancement is that the M-LOK and the KeyMod are not cross compatible and hence accessories from one interface cannot be used on the other. Fortunately, the M-LOK is designed to positively interact with both metal and polymer accessories. Given that the major problem with KeyMod is the metal and polymer interaction issues, which will deteriorate the attachment portions of a polymer mount, the ability to utilize an apparatus which can be mounted on both the KeyMod and M-LOK interface systems is beneficial.

Therefore, it is apparent that there exists a need in for a firearm accessory mount that can be attached onto both the KeyMod and M-LOK rail interface systems. It is a purpose of this invention to meet this requirement while providing the advantages of the prior art, and further purposes will become apparent to those skilled in the art.

FIELD OF INVENTION

An improved firearm accessory mounting interface is disclosed herein. The invention generally relates to a firearm rail mount for optics, scopes, and other mountable firearm accessories. More specifically, this invention relates to an apparatus for mounting weapon accessories onto different rail interface systems without forfeiting any of the advantages of the prior mounting apparatuses.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

It is one objective of the present invention to provide a firearm mounting interface for a firearm handguard rail interface. It is a further object of the invention to provide a mounting device for a firearm that can be utilized on different rail interface systems (e.g., M-LOK and KeyMod). It is yet another object of the invention to provide a mounting interface for a firearm handguard rail that will engage and align with the rail interface system via alignment relief lugs, tightening fasteners (i.e. a screw), and pivot fasteners (i.e. a nut). The alignment relief lugs aim to alleviate the force of recoil or impact as well as provide alignment positioning for inserting the mount into a KeyMod or M-LOK rail slot interface correctly.

The objectives of the present invention, as mentioned above, are accomplished by providing a dual interface rail mount which will be able to integrate with both the KeyMod and M-LOK attachment systems. This is accomplished by two different methods, with each method applicable to each interface.

On topic of the disclosure can be described as a method of mating a firearm accessory mount to a KeyMod “keyhole-shaped” slotted rail interface which will utilize the relief lugs, and fasteners. This method will allow the alignment relief lugs to enter the KeyMod rail slot interface. Ideally, this method can include the alignment relief lugs having at least three contact points with the walls of the KeyMod rail slot interface.

Once accomplished, the pivot fastener can be rotated via the tightening fastener from a horizontal insertion position to a vertical securement position about its center point. The pivot fastener will engage the inner surface of the KeyMod rail interface and prevent extraction of the present invention. Further rotation of the tightening fastener acts to further secure both the pivot and tightening fastener together thereby locking the mounting interface on the KeyMod rail interface. A rotation opposite in direction from the direction utilized to tighten the mounting interface will loosen the fasteners and allow extraction of the invention.

Another topic of the disclosure can be described as a method of mating a firearm accessory mount to an M-LOK “rounded-square” slotted rail interface which will utilize the relief lugs, and fasteners. This method will allow the alignment relief lugs to enter the M-LOK rail slot interface. Ideally, this method can include the alignment relief lugs having at least three contact points with the walls of the M-LOK rail slot interface.

Once accomplished, the pivot fastener can be rotated via the tightening fastener from a horizontal insertion position to a vertical securement position about its center point. The pivot fastener will engage the inner surface of the M-LOK rail interface and prevent extraction of the present invention. Further rotation of the tightening fastener acts to further secure both the pivot and tightening fastener together thereby locking the mounting interface on the M-LOK rail interface. A rotation opposite in direction from the direction utilized to tighten the mounting interface will loosen the fasteners and allow extraction of the invention.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate, that this disclosure may be used as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems for carrying out the purposes of the present disclosure. The abstract related to this disclosure is neither intended to define the range of the embodiments, which are measured by the claims, nor intended to be limiting as to the scope of the disclosure in any way.

Thus, the novel features of this disclosure, and the embodiments themselves, are best understood from the accompanying drawing, considered in connection with the accompanying description of the drawing, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Brief Description

The following descriptions are set forth and have been assigned numerical designations to enable the reader to understand the reasoning behind and the application of the present invention. Even though specific configurations are shown, it should be noted that these are merely for illustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that there are different configurations a user might utilize when attaching the invention onto a handguard rail.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom surface view of the present invention aligned onto cutaway of a firearm handguard rail system;

FIG. 3 is a bottom surface view of the present invention removably coupled onto the firearm handguard rail system via components described herein;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the present invention aligned onto a cutaway of a different firearm handguard rail system;

FIG. 5 is a bottom view of the present invention removably coupled onto the different firearm handguard rail system via components described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The invention provides a connecting device to allow a user to utilize the same mount for different handguard rail systems namely the M-LOK and KeyMod handguard rail systems. Taken with reference to the claims, the figures provide an illustration of some of the different modes of operation wherein;

FIGS. 1-5 show the mounting interface either in a disassembled apparatus or interacting with an M-LOK handguard rail system 420 or a KeyMod handguard rail system 410. The mounting interface comprises three parts: a mount 100 with a top surface 112 and a bottom surface 114 that comprises alignment relief lugs 110, a tightening fastener 200, and a pivot fastener 300.

FIG. 1 shows the components of the mounting interface in an exploded view which shows that insertion of the pivot fastener 300 into the fixed bore 103 located on the bottom surface 114 of the mount 100 will provide a threadably couplable fastener hole 310 by which tightening fastener 200 can threadably attach onto through a top surface 112 opening of the fixed bore 103.

FIG. 2 shows the mounting interface aligned onto a KeyMod handguard rail system 410 via alignment lugs 110 which make contact with the rail system and prevents sliding along the rail system. This alignment will mean that the pivot fastener 300 can be inserted into the slotted opening “keyhole shaped” KeyMod rail system 410. FIG. 3 shows the mounting interface both aligned and locked in place on the KeyMod rail system 410 of the handguard 400 via alignment lugs 110 and pivot fastener 300, respectively. Pivot fastener 300 engages the inner surface 403 of the handguard 400 by rotating the tightening fastener 200 shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 shows the mounting interface aligned onto an M-LOK handguard rail system 420 via alignment lugs 110 which make contact with the rail system and prevents sliding along the rail system. This alignment will mean that the pivot fastener 300 can be inserted into the slotted opening “rounded-square shaped” M-LOK rail system 420. FIG. 5 shows the mounting interface both aligned and locked in place on the KeyMod rail system 410 of the handguard 400 via alignment lugs 110 and pivot fastener 300, respectively. Pivot fastener 300 engages the handguard 400 by rotating the tightening fastener 200 shown in FIG. 1 which in turn rotates the pivot fastener 300 such that the fast pivot fastener 300 engages the inner surface 403 of handguard 420. 

1. An mounting interface for use with a firearm handguard, the mounting interface comprising: a tightening fastener; a pivot fastener having a fastener hole rotatably compatible with said tightening fastener; one or more fixed bores, spaced at least 1.5 inches from the center point of the bore, and extending from a top surface through to a bottom surface; alignment lugs on the bottom surface of the accessory mount preventing the accessory mount from moving along a longitudinal axis of the firearm handguard; a handguard having a keyhole-shaped slot with a length and width greater than the pivot fastener, such that the pivot fastener can enter the slot when in a horizontal insertion position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handguard, but cannot be extracted when the pivot fastener is rotated to a vertical securement position perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handguard.
 2. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening fastener and the pivot fastener are removably coupled with each other.
 3. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening and the pivot fastener are threaded and mate via rotation of at least one of the fasteners.
 4. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening fastener is compatible with insertion into the pivot fastener hole.
 5. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the alignment lugs extend out of the bottom surface of the mount.
 6. The mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the accessory mount is a rail for mounting firearm accessories.
 7. The mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the alignment lugs have a length and width smaller than the handguard keyhole-shaped slot.
 8. An mounting interface for use with a firearm handguard, the mounting interface comprising: a tightening fastener; a pivot fastener having a fastener hole rotatably compatible with said tightening fastener; one or more fixed bores, spaced at least 1.5 inches from the center point of the bore, and extending from a top surface through to a bottom surface; alignment lugs on the bottom surface of the accessory mount preventing the accessory mount from moving along a longitudinal axis of the firearm handguard; a handguard having a rounded-square slot with a length and width greater than the pivot fastener, such that the pivot fastener can enter the slot when in a horizontal insertion position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handguard, but cannot be extracted when the pivot fastener is rotated to a vertical securement position perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handguard.
 9. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening fastener and the pivot fastener are removably coupled with each other.
 10. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening and the pivot fastener are threaded and mate via rotation of at least one of the fasteners.
 11. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the tightening fastener is compatible with insertion into the pivot fastener hole.
 12. A mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the alignment lugs extend out of the bottom surface of the mount.
 13. The mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the accessory mount is a rail for mounting firearm accessories.
 14. The mounting interface as defined in claim 1, wherein the alignment lugs have a length and width smaller than the handguard rounded-square shaped slot.
 15. An mounting interface for use with a firearm slotted handguard, the mounting interface comprising: a tightening fastener rotatably compatible with a fastener hole; a pivot fastener having a fastener hole rotatably compatible with said tightening fastener; one or more fixed bores, spaced at least 1.5 inches from the center point of the bore, and extending from a top surface through to a bottom surface; alignment lugs on the bottom surface of the accessory mount preventing the accessory mount from moving along a longitudinal axis of the slotted handguard; a handguard having a slot with a length and width greater than the pivot fastener, such that the pivot fastener can enter the slot when in a horizontal insertion position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the handguard, but cannot be extracted when the pivot fastener is rotated to a vertical securement position perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the handguard. 